"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great
image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the
form thereof was terrible." (Daniel 2:31)

<1>Daniel is describing the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of the Chaldean Empire. Later on, he will give the
interpretation of the dream.

<2>In his dream, the king saw an image which was very bright
but terrible. The brightness of the image is a symbol of its
attractiveness which is like the attractiveness of
Maya (Maya is the
excess attraction to the external world, illusion of separation from
God.)
<3>As the truth of pursuing the worldly desire is none but
terrible, so was the image. Its true characteristic was terrible.

"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and
his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,"

"His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay."
(Daniel 2:32-33)

<4>So it was a metal image, with the head of gold, the breast
and arms of silver, the belly and the thighs of brass, the legs of
iron, and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay. <5>As
the construction of the metal image comes down from the head to the
feet, it loses its fineness. <6>Gold is precious, it is a
symbol of warmness, and it is a very flexible metal (fine gold is
very soft). The next metal is silver, still precious but not like
gold; also it is not as flexible as gold. Then is brass, which is
much lower in quality in comparison to gold and silver, next is
iron, and the last is iron and clay.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which
smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake
them to pieces." (Daniel 2:34)

<7>This terrible image was not as strong as it looked,
because it had a very weak foundation (of clay and iron). So it
would be broken from its feet by a stone which "was cut out without
hands." This stone (truth) did not come from the hand of man, but
from
God.

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshing-floors; and the
wind carried them away,
that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image
became a great
mountain, and filled
the whole earth." (Daniel 2:35)

<8>Wind is the
symbol for illusionary ideals. As the
wind is caused by temperature differences in two places, which
is a short-lived phenomena, and cannot be caught (even when the wind
is caught it is not wind any longer because it stops), so are the
illusionary ideals. That is why when the image was broken, it was
carried away and was no more. It was an illusion which never was the
truth.

<9>"The stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and filled
the whole earth": The symbol for showing organizational structure in
management is a triangle upward ().
Also a mountain has the same shape as a triangle but in three
dimensions, so it is much stronger than a triangle. <10>The
organizational structure made by the human is shown as a triangle
upward, and the organizational structure made by
God is shown as a
mountain (very strong and stable).
<11>So the
mountain
means theKingdom Of Heaven On Earth,
which will fill "the whole earth."

Up to this point Daniel was describing what the dream was. Now
God revealed its meaning
through Daniel as below:

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the
God
of
heaven hath given
thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." (Daniel 2:37)

<12>Nebuchadnezzar was a great king, but his kingdom, power,
strength, and glory all had been given to him by
God. If
God had not so desired,
Nebuchadnezzar could not have had all these things.

"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the
field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and
hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold."
(Daniel 2:38)

<13>For understanding the significance and meaning of this
verse completely, we should describe other subjects and even go
ahead of ourselves to the verses in the following prophecies in
Daniel (which will be described later).

<14>At the end of chapter 9 and in chapter 10 of
Genesis
in
The Holiest Book, the symbolic meaning of the three sons of
Noah --
Ham,
Japheth, and
Shem -- was described. <15>They are the symbols for the
five types of humans after the flood of Noah.

<16>Ham is the
symbol of those humans who try to benefit from the external world by
their works and try to satisfy their basic needs through manual
labor. They are the workers (Shudras).
Also
Ham is a symbol of those
who try to control and dominate their environment by their strength
and courage. They are the warriors or the leaders of the societies (Ksattriyas)
(for more detail, read
The Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth), like
Nimrod who was the grandson of
Ham and became a great king (Gen. 10:10).

<17>Japheth is
the symbol of those who try to dominate their environment through
their
minds, either by
intellectual administrative abilities and politics (Vipras),
or by directing their
intellect toward controlling the resources as businessmen (Vaeshyas).

<18>Shem is the
symbol of the true spiritual people, those who become seers,
Masters,
Prophets, and so on.
That is why
Abram came from the
generation of
Shem. <19>They are
not
intellectual spiritualists
who create superstitions and false doctrines so that they might be
able to exploit and dominate the masses, but they are the real
seekers of the truth and are the
Elected Ones (Brahmins).
(Although
Abram was called by man
"A-bram," which means not a Brahmin, still
God chose him as such!)

<20>Therefore, there are five different kinds of people that
can be recognized in the human race: the workers (Shudras),
the warriors (Ksattriyas),
the intellectuals (Vipras),
the businessmen (Vaeshyas),
and the true spiritual people (Brahmins).

<21>Also in the course of history some of these classes
dominated other ones in a successive manner. The
Ksattriyas
dominated the
Shudras,
the intellectuals dominated the
Shudras and
Ksattriyas, and the
Vaeshyas dominated
the
Shudras,
Ksattriyas and
Vipras. The period of
domination of each of these classes is known as their era in
history.

<22>Each of these kinds have a common general characteristic
by which they can be recognized. The workers (Shudras)
usually do manual work and are interested mostly in day-to-day
events of life and the basic necessities and safety needs. As long
as these needs are fulfilled, they usually have no further
ambitions.

<23>The warrior types (Ksattriyas)
are those who are courageous. Their want is to overcome physical
obstacles and to conquer their enemies. They value fearlessness,
valor, honor, discipline, and strength.
<24>Because of these abilities, the Ksattriyan class assumed
the leadership of the Shudras. These
Ksattriyas in return
felt a sense of duty toward their subjects and took some
responsibility for the protection and welfare of the
Shudras. <25>This
era of the domination of the
Ksattriyas is symbolized in the
Bible by the appearance
of
Nimrod
as the king (Gen. 10:10).

<26>These
Ksattriyas were basically simple people and their greatness came
from their ability to protect and create a good environment for
their subjects. However, their era is marked by conquests and wars
in order to bring peace and wealth to their territories. <27>Their
intention to exploit others was not as subtle as intellectuals, but
bold and direct.

<28>The intellectual types love to use their
minds to penetrate the
laws governing the social and physical spheres in order to control
and dominate their environment. They dominate others by their
administrative abilities, innovation of tools, ideas, and creation
of superstitious and religious doctrines that bind man instead of
freeing him.

<29>As the kingdoms of the
Ksattriyas
expanded and empires were created, the dependence of kings and
emperors on their ministers (intellectuals) increased. This
expansion of the rule of intellectuals slowly brought the domination
of this class over the society. The kings became puppets, and their
rule became symbolic. The real rulers became the ministers, and they
cleverly gained control over all things without changing the
monarchal structure of the past (a good example of this is in the
Medieval times when the Catholic church was running Europe where
there were kings and queens on their thrones).

<30>These prophecies in the book of
Daniel are about
the start of the domination of the intellectuals over the
Ksattriyas
and the era of intellectuals. <31>King Nebuchadnezzar is the
head of the image, which is of gold. He had the ultimate
characteristics of a Ksattriya. He was disciplined, benevolent,
simple, concerned, and had great power over his subjects to such an
extent that he built a large image and demanded all to worship it.
<32>He believed he had obtained his kingdom and rights by Divine
sanction (that is how
Shudras used to think
about kings), so he was the gold of his era. <33>He was also
the king of kings and had domination over all his subjects.

<34>From here on, in the evolutionary process of man, the
development of the
intellect started toward its heights.